Michigan · Nonprofit
CHIPPEWA NATURE CENTER
CHIPPEWA NATURE CENTER (Michigan) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,894,937 to it, the largest being THE HERBERT H & GRACE A DOW FOUNDATION ($2,182,500). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $11M
- Funders on record
- 21
- Grants received
- $4.9M
- Net assets
- $44M
What Chippewa Nature Center does
Mission
The Chippewa Nature Center is a non-profit organization whose mission is to facilitate the enjoyment and understanding of our natural, historical and archaeological resources as relevant to the saginaw valley, to promote environmental awareness and to foster responsible stewardship.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Department of programs: in 2025, the Chippewa Nature Center continued to serve our mission to connect all people with nature through educational, recreational and cultural experiences. Our programming team connected with the public through our annual festivals, staff-led outdoor experiences, and indoor educational visits. We offered nature preschool and nature day camp to serve the children of our community. We partnered with schools through educational field trips at our location and presented our programs in their classrooms.
$1,690,637 spent$783,747 earned by the program61% of program spendingLand and facilities: our land and facilities team worked with other organizations to manage their land for reduced invasive species and native growth promotion.
$1,010,629 spent36% of program spendingVolunteers and outreach: the strong community support we received through volunteer opportunities made our services possible.
$83,481 spent3% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,784,747.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $40M to $35M (−12%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2020 17% · 2021 8% · 2022 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
10% of CHIPPEWA NATURE CENTER’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (87% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 13 funders, grant income rose $36k → $2.3M.
5 of 21 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 17% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of CHIPPEWA NATURE CENTER’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
CHIPPEWA NATURE CENTER leans on a few funders — its largest provides 45% of grant income and the top three 79%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 85% · 2018 82% · 2019 84% · 2020 47% · 2021 54% · 2022 85% · 2023 45% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
50% of CHIPPEWA NATURE CENTER's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 71% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
97% of CHIPPEWA NATURE CENTER's grant income comes from Michigan funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $808k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
CHIPPEWA NATURE CENTER runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 210 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 210 environment nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding CHIPPEWA NATURE CENTER receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $154k on record.
- Department of Agriculture$137k
- Department of the Interior$18k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like CHIPPEWA NATURE CENTER
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Michigan
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
38%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CHIPPEWA NATURE CENTER: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds CHIPPEWA NATURE CENTER?
- CHIPPEWA NATURE CENTER (Michigan) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,894,937 to it, the largest being THE HERBERT H & GRACE A DOW FOUNDATION ($2,182,500). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CHIPPEWA NATURE CENTER have?
- IRS filings report 21 organizations giving $4,894,937 in grants to CHIPPEWA NATURE CENTER, 15 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CHIPPEWA NATURE CENTER?
- THE HERBERT H & GRACE A DOW FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,182,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CHIPPEWA NATURE CENTER find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Michigan. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 21 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing